New Medical Study Shows Hip Replacements Need to be Redone in 1 out of 75

British researchers reported last month in the journal PLoS Medicine that 1 in 75 new joint replacements must eventually be redone.  Given the skyrocketing number of first time hip and knee replacement which is expected to go from 478,000 knee replacements a year currently to an expected 3.4 million per year by 2030 as the population ages, and 234,000 total hip replacements that is expected to more than double in the same time, younger patients are more likely to outlive their artificial joints.  Plus revisions require longer operations as surgeons hunt for usable bone and they also cost more.  In addition, another new study warns about what athletic activity patients should try after recovery.

In a case that I am currently handling involving a man in his early 40's who slipped and fell on ice that the owner let melt and freeze over a period of three days without admittedly ever placing sand or salt on the surface where hundreds of pedestrians walked each morning, the prospect of further hip replacement over the course of his life represents a real possibility after he suffered a fractured hip in the fall.  In addition, the man runs additional risks of developing complications from the hip fracture including failure of the hardware used to fix the fracture, infections to the fracture site, and what is known as avascular necrosis which might further necessitate hip replacement.

Price of Human Life Calculated Every Day

The idea that no price is too high to pay to save a single life is a commonly held point of view.  But not in Washington D.C. apparently.  Inside the Beltway, they take a very stubborn approach to the value of human life.  Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency downgraded its estimated value of a life for $8 million to $7.22 million.  On the other side of town, meanwhile, the Department of Transportation raised its calculation from $3 million to $5.8 million.  And the Consumer Product Safety Commission held its estimate right where it was at $5 million.  Government agencies use these estimates to evaluate the merits of choices they make.  They're also something to consider when injuries consumer and workers are asking "How much is my life worth" in a personal injury case.

State of Pennsylvania agrees to settle for $12.5 million with the father of a 12 year old boy who was fatally shot when he hopped out of a stolen vehicle

The State of Pennsylvania has agreed to settle with the father of a 12 year old boy who was shot by state troopers after he hopped out of a stolen car.  Previously, a federal jury had awarded the boy's father more than $28 million including $24 million in punitive damages.  The police had appealed arguing that the punitive damages were excessive.  The case settled before a decision was made on appeal.

The boy was unarmed when he was shot during a chase on Christmas Eve 2002 south of Pittsburgh.  The troopers, who were not believed, claimed that only one of them shot the boy and only because one believed that the boy had already shot the partner.